


Through Thick and Thin

by samflower (orphan_account)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alcoholic John Winchester, Baby Sam Winchester, Brotherly Love, Dead Mary Winchester, Drabble, Emotionally Hurt Dean Winchester, Hurt Dean Winchester, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Just??? IDK is this fluff??? I mean, Kid Dean Winchester, Love, Mary is dead, No Fluff, No Smut, Other, Picks up at Season One Episode One, Protective Dean Winchester, Right after Mary dies, Short One Shot, it's just
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 00:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12947037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/samflower
Summary: Sam and Dean's first night after losing Mary in the house fire.Part of the "Firsts" Challenge.





	Through Thick and Thin

The Winchester family home died before the leaves did that year and like the leaves, it fell to the ground with Mary Winchester inside. And there it lay, all wood rot and ashes while the remnants of the small Winchester family holed up in a dingy motel right outside of Lawrence, Kansas.

The motel room was trashed by the time Dean finally arrived in the old police car. The television that had come with the room was a pile of glass and old plastic on the floor and the bathroom door had several holes all along it. Their father, however, looked peaceful as he slept, a bottle of whatever he could find spilled out on the side of him. It was their first night out Mary and Dean knew he’d have to grieve alone, cooing to his younger brother as he cried out for his mother’s milk.

It took Dean a while to situate himself and his younger brother on the second bed in the room. His father’s rantings and ravings about what he’d seen and the police statement Dean had to give had taken a lot out of him. Sammy, the bundle of screaming and poop that he was, hadn’t noticed how ragged anyone looked--or, if he had, he hadn’t cared. Dean resented this as he lay there, watching his younger brother wail for substance and Dean knew that he’d be wailing for it too had the police officer not stopped and grabbed him a chocolate shake on the way to drop him off at the house. Dean knew he couldn’t resent his brother forever, so as he stared down at Sam, who was finally quieting down, Dean’s racing thoughts began to quiet down too and as he stared down at his brother, he remembered the events of earlier that day.

_”Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don’t look back! Now, Dean, go!” Dean’s tiny arms wrapped around his even tinier, wailing brother and raced through the house and down the steps as fast as his short legs would carry him. Standing in the wet grass of his front yard, Dean stared at the house and accepted the possibility that his mother and father were both gone. He accepted that he’d be Sam’s sole provider and he’d accepted that, without him, Sam would have no one. But, just as he spoke to Sam in a soft tone, that he’d always protect him, John ran out. He snatched Dean up by Dean’s belly, nearly knocking the wind out of the small warrior. He clung fast to Sam as John ran them across the lawn before setting them down in a safe space, turning to look at their home as it burned to the ground._

Dean’s heart ached as the memory and he felt tears prick his eyes. He knew mommy was never coming back, but, _where did people go when they died? Would mommy like her coffin and would her funeral be big enough?_ Young Dean couldn’t even begin to ponder the answers to the questions she had, but as he looked into Sam’s big eyes, he knew one thing was for certain: None of that mattered now, because Mary would want him to watch out for his brother. Mary would want Dean to love his brother unconditionally, through thick and through thin. She would want him to love Sam when Sam broke one of Dean’s toys, and she would want Dean to love Sam the first time he got him in trouble, and she would want him to love Sam when she couldn’t.

And that’s what he chose to do. Dean Winchester would love his little brother until the day they met their end and Mary could love them both again in Heaven and that… that thought alone was enough to lull Dean to sleep.


End file.
